Hankø and Sailing

Hankø is an island located on the port side of the outer part of the Oslofjord.

It is here on the island that we find Hankø Yacht Club which will be our base during the Hankø 11:Metre World Championship 2026.

We have found an article (translated with CoPilot) that was written by Mikkel Thommessen for Seilmagasinet
. This article tells about the importance that Hankø, and Hankø Yacht Club, have had for Norwegian sailing.

A Regatta of Traditions
Hankø Regatta is to sailing what the Holmenkollen ski races are to skiers. These events have roots that run deep in the history of sport.
Well-known families from Østfold were already engaged in sailing in the late 19th century, even before the Royal Norwegian Yacht Club was founded in 1883. Hankø was regarded as the finest regatta course—opening onto the open sea with excellent wind conditions. The current from the Glomma River made sailing challenging, and few could claim a home-water advantage from daily practice in those waters.
As early as 1882, the newly established Fredrikstad Sailing Association invited competitors to a Scandinavian regatta at Hankø. Famous sailing names such as Wiese and Anker were behind the initiative. No boats came from neighboring countries, but the event still showcased Østlandet’s best yachts, including future Prime Minister Gunnar Knudsen’s Terje Viken, which made its racing debut there.
It would, however, take some time before Hankø attained formal status as the venue for Norway’s annual national regattas. The Norwegian Association for Pleasure Sailing—originally the Royal Norwegian Yacht Club—held its first regatta in Horten in 1884 with 47 boats. In the following years, the major races on the Oslo Fjord were organized in Moss, Risør and the Vestfold towns of Horten, Tønsberg and Larvik.
Despite fine courses and onshore facilities—including the hotel, its restaurants and the Warm Bathhouse—it took years before Hankø broke through as the main arena for sailing in Eastern Norway. Many thought the island lay too far from Oslo.
An attempt to build a clubhouse on Hankø in 1898 was abandoned. Instead, the club looked between Moss, Åsgårdstrand and Vrengen. The Royal Norwegian Yacht Club purchased a house at Narverød near Tønsberg and based itself there. This soon proved a mistake, and the club withdrew after the notorious 1903 storm, which destroyed large parts of the pleasure fleet.
Consideration as European Week Host
For the European Week in 1914, Hankø was initially the board’s top choice, but the hotel owner’s terms were unacceptable. The club would have had to rent and operate the entire hotel—with staff—from July 1 to 14 at its own expense. The fee of 25,000 kroner was more than the club could risk, so the event was moved to Horten.
In the following years, only one national regatta returned to Hankø. The first Scandinavian Gold Cup races, established in 1919, were held in Horten in both 1922 and 1923. It wasn’t until 1925 that these races took place at Hankø—the same year Stavanger hosted the national regatta.
Trophy Races at Hankø
International trophy races in the 6- and 8-meter classes gradually shifted to Hankø. In 1926, the Royal Norwegian Yacht Club organized gold-cup contests for the Coupe de France, the Kattegat Trophy and the Øresund Trophy. There was strong international participation, and for the first time an American yacht joined the Scandinavian Gold Cup.
Lanai, sailed by the young American Herman F. Whiton, won the cup. He made many Norwegian friends and later regarded the waters between Garnholmen and Missingen (Michigan) as his home waters.
The following year, battles between Norwegian and Swedish sailors and designers defined the races. The Genoa jib made its Norwegian debut after Swedish sailor Sven Salén surprised the world with his large jib in Genoa earlier that year. In 1928, the Hankø Regatta gained national-regatta status with ten foreign 6-meters from Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Great Britain, the Netherlands and Estonia.
The event had become an eagerly anticipated annual festival for Hankø families. It grew not only in sporting prestige but also in social significance. Grand dinners were hosted privately and at Hankø Hotel. Hankø acquired social cachet and became a popular holiday destination.
Major Anniversary
In 1932, Fredrikstad Sailing Association celebrated its 50th anniversary and hosted the regatta, serving as a successful dress rehearsal for the Royal Norwegian Yacht Club’s bigger jubilee the following year. From then on, Fredrikstad held its own regatta in the days leading up to the national event.
Europe was just emerging from the 1920s depression, but the United States remained hard hit by bank and stock-market closures. The U.S. sent no boats to the jubilee regatta and did not provide its promised 12-meter trophy.
To accommodate sailors from 330 boats, the club chartered the cruise ship Stella Polaris. The fjord was covered with sails from ten nations. Sixteen 12-meters and 28 6-meters competed. On Garnholmen, crowds reached nearly 16,000 spectators. The 12-meter Vema III, still sailing today, was built for that jubilee.
One-Design Boats Arrive
Throughout the 1930s, 6- and 8-meter trophy races continued to dominate, but as the Drake class grew and the International One Design (IOD) launched in 1937, the regatta gained fresh momentum. One-design boats had firmly entered the sport.
In 1935, 87 boats competed, including 18 foreign entrants from seven nations. The gold cup again went to Herman F. Whiton, who refused to sail in the Olympics to avoid serving Hitler’s propaganda.
Seventy-seven boats, including 12 from six nations, started in 1936, the Olympic year. The IOD class debuted at Hankø in 1937. Twenty-five boats had already been exported to the U.S. from Bjarne Aas’s yard in Fredrikstad, which also built eight to ten boats for Norwegian sailors that year.
Meanwhile, Scotland’s Royal Clyde Yacht Club established an international Drake-class trophy, insisting its first race be held at Hankø, the Drake’s homeland. This became the Drake Gold Cup, still the class’s most coveted trophy, now more popular than ever.
The 8-meter Sira debuted in 1938 and will be 79 years old—one year younger than its owner—when King Harald sails her in the world championship off Hankø next year.
1938 also introduced sailors to the notorious “Hankø weather.” When the gale blows with heavy seas, few venues are more demanding. Of 75 starters, 37 retired on day one, eight with broken masts.
Post-War Upswing
The long war years halted organized sport in Norway, and the Hankø Regatta paused until 1946. That year, 103 boats started, including 24 in the IOD class and 24 in the A-Drake class, which needed a new rig to qualify as an Olympic boat in 1948. Arendal Sailing Association marked its anniversary in 1948 by hosting the national regatta, the Drake Gold Cup and the Olympic trials.
In 1949 came the Knarr. Many felt the Drake had become too costly, and the standardized Knarr was far more affordable. The Swedes preferred the Nordic Folkboat, sending 15 of them to the 1950 regatta to showcase to Norwegians. They never truly caught on. In all, 142 boats competed, 24 from abroad.
That year, a monument to Johan Anker was unveiled on Garnholmen. The 5.5-meter class also arrived to replace the expensive 6-meter. Fourteen boats were built for Norway in the first three years, and Peder Lunde won silver at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics.
The Hankø Regatta grew through the 1950s. In 1957, the Royal Norwegian Yacht Club organized both the Gold Cup and the One Ton Cup, attracting major press coverage and spectator interest when the U.S. won both trophies.
In 1958, the club celebrated its 75th anniversary with record participation. Founded in 1954 to strengthen Hankø as an international racing venue, the Hanko Yacht Club’s waterfront clubhouse opposite Bloksberg was ideal for an after-sail beer in the evening sun. Its influential members ensured Hankø remained on the international sailing map.
The End of the National Regatta
In 1963, the national regatta moved to Tønsberg, but Hankø still hosted 116 boats in its trophy races, 27 from abroad. The Skaw Race ran in a stiff gale that year, and a sailor drowned. Of 16 starters, only nine finished.
Drake Gold Cup races saw a strong presence from the Greek royal family, including Crown Prince Constantine, the 1960 Olympic champion. Legend has it he was secretly engaged to Danish Princess Anne Marie at an Ole Schrøder barbecue on Hankø. In 1964, the national regatta returned to Hankø.
Team racing in the IOD class became a highlight. Guests threw memorable parties—none more so than in 1960 when Bermuda’s “Diamond King,” Stanhope Joel, hosted a celebration at Hankø Hotel for everyone connected to sailing. Late that night, Joel, an avid rider, gifted farmer Meidell his horse, which had been grazing outside the hotel.
The split between national regatta in Horten and trophy races at Hankø continued into 1965, leading to lean years for the island. When the Norwegian Sailing Federation was founded in 1970 and the Royal Norwegian Yacht Club ceased its national role, the concept of the national regatta effectively ended.
King Olav’s Influence
The person who truly kept Hankø alive as a regatta venue was King Olav. From Midsummer until well into August, he spent his summers aboard the royal ship Norge, anchored in Hankø Sound. From there, he sailed daily around the island in Sira or one of his 5.5-meters during regattas.
Hankø was the King’s only holiday, where he could indulge his favorite sport and surround himself with family and friends—often from the world of international sailing. It is no exaggeration to say King Olav was deeply committed to the Hankø Regattas, and no significant changes were made without his thorough consultation
Here’s the direct English translation:
In front of his many sailing friends who came to Hankø to compete against the King, he undoubtedly felt a strong personal responsibility for the regattas’ smooth execution. There is no doubt that King Olav’s presence over so many years helped sustain interest in the Hankø regattas and in Norway’s 5.5-metre class.
Another example of King Olav’s commitment to sailing at Hankø came when the Royal Norwegian Yacht Club’s junior division held summer camps at Hankø Yacht Club in 1988 and 1989. Twenty Optimist dinghy sailors from invited clubs took part in an extraordinary sailing camp. On one of those days the wind blew so fiercely that training had to be moved into Hankø Sound, right beside the royal yacht’s anchorage.
Before long, an interested onlooker armed with binoculars and a notepad appeared on deck. It was King Olav, who spent hour after hour watching the young sailors and making notes. Once the sailors returned safely to shore, camp chief Eivind Astrup received a message from the royal yacht asking if there was anything they could contribute—perhaps the King could present the prizes to the young sailors. The King also suggested that the sailor in the yellow Optimist tighten the boom vang a bit.
Astrup thought this a fine offer but wondered: couldn’t the sailors come aboard the royal yacht instead?
And so it was arranged, and the ship’s cooks had fresh buns and soda ready in record time for the children, who devoured the treats.
“Wait a moment,” said King Olav.
“Before we serve anything, let’s review today’s races.”
With that, His Majesty produced his notepad and gave the sailors a debriefing they would not soon forget. During the Q&A session on the royal yacht’s aft deck, someone asked how he had managed to stand so long on deck in such foul weather.
“Well,” said the King, “that’s because I’ve had plenty of practice watching sporting events in bad conditions.”
Lean years
The 1970s were lean years for the regattas at Hankø, featuring only trophy races, though with glimpses of bigger things like world championships in the 5.5-metre, Soling, Yngling and Three-Quarter Ton classes. Then the 1983 jubilee regatta restored much of its former glory, hosting several world championships—among them strong Norwegian participation in the Half Ton class—as well as the Skaw Race with maxi yachts and large fleets in various trophy races. The lodging ship Brand was chartered for accommodations, and once again Hankø buzzed with life and activity.
Hankø Race Week
In the absence of a national regatta, it is now Hankø Race Week that takes center stage. It is Norway’s largest keelboat regatta on what most consider the country’s best racecourse. The onshore atmosphere is equally special, with the elegant Hankø Yacht Club as its base. Despite its name, the club has shed much of its exclusivity and is now open to all sailors—even non-members.
The classes in Hankø Race Week vary with the boats in vogue at any given time. The 5.5-metres have vanished from Hankø—and along with them many international sailors. The club’s greatest task ahead will likely be restoring Hankø as an arena for international racing.